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Lack of time is frequently reported as a barrier to regular physical activity. Understanding how adults spend free time may assist with physical activity promotion.

PURPOSE: The purpose was to determine the association between leisure-time sedentary activities, including television watching, video game playing, and computer use (LTSA) and minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) measured with accelerometry.

METHODS: The participants were 9489 men and women 18 years and older enrolled in the 2003 - 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Physical activity was measured via accelerometer and MVPA was calculated using 2020 counts/minute as the activity threshold. Minutes of MVPA/day were averaged for adults with at least 4 days of at least 10 hours of accelerometry monitoring. Hours/day of LTSA was assessed from NHANES the interview. Sampling weights were used for analysis to account for the complex sampling design. Regression was used to assess the relationship between MVPA with sedentary activities, after adjustment for appropriate confounders.

RESULTS: Of the 9489 participants, 5963 (62.8%) had accelerometer data that met the criteria for valid measurement, and were included in the subsequent analyses. On average, adults participated in 15.0 (range 0 - 208.5) minutes of MVPA/day as measured by accelerometery. After adjusting for gender, age, body mass index (BMI), and, education, there was a statistically significant difference between LTSA and minutes of MVPA (F = 30.96, p<0.001).

CONCLUSION: A statistically significant relationship was seen between LTSA and MVPA in a population-based survey of US adults. Encouraging decreased sedentary activities may help to increase physical activity.